Three men rescued from collapsed building on wharf in southwestern N.S.

Firefighter Robert Strang from the Barrington Passage Volunteer Fire Department cordons off the scene where a building under construction on the wharf in Newellton on Cape Sable Island collapsed. Three people were injured. (KATHY JOHNSON)

All three men who were injured when a building collapsed on Cape Sable Island on Thursday evening have been released from hospital.

The men were working on a building under construction on the wharf in Newellton when it collapsed with them inside.

RCMP said Friday morning that two men have already been released from hospital and sent home, while the third was able to leave before noon today.

All three were extricated within two hours of the collapse, which happened at about 5:40 p.m.

The building was a fish plant, RCMP Staff Sgt. Jeff West said.

Because it was a workplace accident, staff from the Labour Department would inspect the scene, he said just after 7 p.m. Thursday

After initial reports of the collapse, a LifeFlight helicopter was called out, but none of the three had injuries that required an emergency flight, said West.

Mike Swim, station chief at the Island & Barrington Passage Fire Department, said the three men were working on the building near the wharf in Newellton when the roof came down.

Swim said two of the men escaped from the building with minor injuries, but the third was badly hurt as he fell from the roof and was trapped in its trusses.

The man was rescued after firefighters spent 45 minutes cutting through the trusses with reciprocating saws, Swim said.

The emergency call to Highway 330 in Newellton came in at 5:40 p.m., said Stacey Brown, spokeswoman for Emergency Health Services.

Three ambulances also raced to the scene, as well as local fire departments, whose volunteers managed to rescue the three workers.

The roof trusses that collapsed into the building. (KATHY JOHNSON)

The building was big enough to hold about 600,000 pounds of lobster, said Newellton harbourmaster Dick Crowell.

The building is not on harbour authority property, Crowell said.

One resident, who called the building a tank house, said workers were installing new trusses Thursday.

Locals gathered for news of the people trapped inside, although RCMP blocked off the road leading down to the Shelburne County fish plant, which is one of a handful in the area.

Argyle-Barrington MLA Chris d’Entremont and several local residents said they knew the collapsed plant as one belonging to fish packer G.M. Newell Ltd.

However, provincial property records show that G.M. Newell sold its wharf lot last December to a company called Atlantic ChiCan Seafood, whose president and director is listed as Shang Long He of Richmond, B.C.

Long He could not be reached for comment. The Yarmouth lawyer who is listed as a recognized agent for Atlantic ChiCan Seafood, Matthew Fraser, said he has not kept in touch with company management.

According to Crowell, the building under construction was behind the old Newell office building, both at 55 Orion Wharf Rd.

A woman whose husband had been near the scene said it appears a large building being constructed to go over a lobster tank may have collapsed, trapping the workers underneath.

“Boom trucks have been going down there for the past few weeks,” said the woman.

The building under construction is located behind the main plant and features a huge concrete basement that is said to be a lobster pound. The new structure appears to be about 60 metres in length and nearly half as wide.

An excavator is used to stabilize an I beam that buckled. (KATHY JOHNSON)

Roof rafters were stacked on a trailer and some rafters appeared to have been placed on the building before collapsing into the concrete pit Thursday evening.

A local man said crews have being hauling cement to the plant site for a long time, readying the building for lobster season at the end of November.

A Shelburne County contractor was carrying out the construction work.

Two trucks belonging to Mike Hennigars General Construction Ltd. were parked at the site.

A woman who answered the phone at the number listed for the construction company said they had no information on the conditions of the workers.

Workers at the fish plant normally leave for home around suppertime, said locals.

A Labour Department spokeswoman, Chrissy Matheson, said the department was beginning the process of collecting information about the incident, but it was too early to release any details.

Eddie Nickerson, warden of the Municipality of the District of Barrington, said at 6:40 p.m. that the emergency response “pretty efficient.”

“They were on the scene quite fast,” Nickerson said.

The small community of Clark’s Harbour is situated on Cape Sable Island, about 95 kilometres southeast of Yarmouth.

Located near rich fishing grounds, it has been an important fishing and fish-processing place for generations. About 800 people live in that town.

Newellton is a five-minute drive from the town.

Barrington RCMP cordoned off the area where the collapse occurred.

With Brian Medel and Michael Lightstone, staff reporters, and The Canadian Press